Seen two at the local state park where I ruck hike. Lots of snakes around here....

We have quite of few of them in central Ohio … Mostly in and around wetlands. I personally seen one at that was when I was about 7 or 8 at the fish hatchery ponds. They tell me the are prevalent in that area.

Garry-

Yup,

I used to live in Bridgeport in Oneida Park in the 1960's and we always found in our back yards.

They got chopped up fairly regularly by my dad's hand pushed rotary lawn mower.

They are an endangered specie now and heavily protected in New York State.

They are also found out in Genesee County in The Bergen Swamp.

I used to go out to the Cicero Swamp Wildlife Management area off Island Road

near Northern Boulevard and find they relatively easily.

This area is now posted against trespassing and is now a rattlesnake sanctuary.

w

Are they fairly large?

No, not big.

Most I've seen were the size of a large garter snake.

They are also known as the pygmy rattle snake.

w

The Masasauga and Pygmy rattlers are related but are not the same species.Pygmy rattlers are found further South.North Carolina is about as far North as Pygmy rattlers occur.

Pygmy Rattlesnake is merely the localized name by which

they are sometimes referred to here in New York State.

Probably because it's easier to pronounce pygmy than Massasauga.

I did not intend to assign any taxonomic value to the local name.

w

Pygmy and Massassauga are the two branches of the Sistrusis genus rattlesnakes in the US. All our other larger rattlesnakes are in the Crotalus genus

I didn't realize the Massasauga has such a big range, geographically in the USA.

24 hours in intensive care would suck! We have them in Indiana, I have never seen one and have looked. They are protected here also. We have timbers and copperheads in southern Indiana and they are protected too.

[quote=walleyed][quote=Taximan]
[quote=walleyed]

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Pygmy Rattlesnake is merely the localized name by which they sometimes referred here in New York State.

Probably because it's easier to pronounce pygmy than Massasauga

I did not intend to assign any taxonomic value to the local name.


w
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Sorry,Walleyed.I should have figured that.

Are they fairly large?

The largest I have seen was 40 inches long. It got ran over by a car on a sandy road.
I have seen several in the lower 30 inch range. A friend of mine had a cigar box with
the bottom covered with rattles from them.

They seem to be common along the Ausable River in Michigan.
In the past I have ran into so many of them that I will not go back to those areas.

Ever eat the head to prove this theory?
(I too, enjoy semantic banter.)

The Eastern massasauga is a small rattlesnake, typically under 30" They've been listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act as of this year. They can be found in Wisconsin, but they are habitat specific, and sometimes a group of them can be found in close proximity of their hibernacula. They spend the winter underground in wetlands, and then during summer move out into wooded habitats close to these wetlands. Bites are rare, but they can bite if stepped on, or molested. Normal treatment is Crofab, which is used for other North American Pit Vipers too.

I took these pics of one I found sunning in early spring, a few miles from my house. Got some nice video and audio of it "rattling" (more like buzzing), left it alone and continued shed hunting.....







-NC

I live just south of the MI line in the glacial lakes region in IN.. Wouldn't say they are common here, but our only poisonous snake and in the right areas they can be found.. Neighbor tore down an old chicken house years ago when I was a kid and found somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 of them wintered up underneath..They favor the buck brush/cat tail swamp areas it seems. I've run into them several times over the years, but thankfully no serious interaction.

Thanks for the Photos Northcountry!

In school and throughout wildlife training, we used Peterson Filed Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians along with the other books in this series. Here is the Pages showing rattlesnakes. They list 2 pigmy and 2 Massasauga. They are not the same snake. They do belong to the same Genera, Sistrurus. All of the other Rattles shown are of the Genera Crotalus.

Although, there are two of both the Pigmy and the Massasauga, both of each, are of the same species but of a different sub-species. If you want to get more specific for your own knowledge, I would suggest looking them up on the web. As it states in the book, any of the illustrations shown, may be a slight variation in pattern and color in any given area.

Garry-

The venom of all north american pit vipers is perfectly safe to consume. The venoms are mainly hemotoxic requiring injection into the bloodstream to be effective. They are also broken down in both the cooking process and by the stomachs acids.

Yea,,and its full of muskrats also.